


You're Back

by Creighton



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Hot Pie dishing some truths but not a lot, Jon Snow Knows Something, Post-Episode: s08e04 The Last of the Starks, Reunions, The Crossroads Inn, he learns a lot too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-27 09:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18736735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creighton/pseuds/Creighton
Summary: Hot Pie is hub central.Everyone's going South these days, and Hot Pie sees some old friends.





	1. Arry

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping this hasn't been done yet and I'm not trumping on anyone's idea...  
> So I started a bunch of fic to cope after this episode because. I mean. *gestures at everything* most of them aren't going to go anywhere I expect.  
> The Gendrya bit was fine though, not too grimmdark and with the potential for angst, so I'm going with that. Who better to see it through than Hot Pie?  
> This is a first for me but I wrote everything on my phone, and in one go, so this fic is rough and full of typos.  
> There's a second chapter with Gendry coming, and I expect this one to be longer and have more substance, because lbr Arya and the Hound aren't the best conversationalists. I just wanted to get this going.  
> The "Waterfell" typo is solely because that's what my phone corrected it as, and I thought why the hell not?

"Arry, hey. You're back!"

"Hello Hot Pie."

Hot Pie looked down at his old friend, already wolfing down one of his famous pies. The big man next to her looked familiar.

"I know you, don't I? You were here!" He gestures around him at the tavern. "You're the one who recognized Arry!"

"Don't remember you." He took some time to answer because he was also eating ravenously, and he took a large gulp of ale before looking at Hot Pie. Yep. He remembered the scar. He did not look like a knight, and yet Thoros had called him one. Proof that armors were a good guess, as far as recognizing knights went.

"What are you doing down here? Wasn't there a battle at Waterfell?"

"Winterfell. Has word already spread about that?" Arry seemed reluctant to talk about it. She seemed reluctant to talk about most things. Most people who didn't drink a lot were, so that didn't really phase Hot Pie. Although she was gulping this ale down fast. 

"Yeah, we heard that Winter was coming - like your phrase, the one you used to say a lot, remember? We stored more food and I asked the innkeep if we could get actual cloaks, like yours, but she said no. Too expensive. Lots of people came down from the North, told us to flee because the dead were coming? I don't know what they meant, we figured it was the accent. I thought they meant the red, or something, but Mari was sure it was the head. Like the head of a house I guess?"

"No, it was the dead. Although the Targaryen color is red, so you weren't too far off."

"The dead?"

"The bloody dead got resurrected by a fucking dead King and the damn Wall fell so they had all the time in the world to march their army down south. And you all fuckers have no idea cause she stopped them," he was gesturing at Arya, his hand too close and his voice too loud for her because she furrowed her brows and took his cup.

"Not so loud, you drunk shit."

"Fuck off. You save the world, you own up to it."

She wouldn't look at him. Hot Pie thought they made a good team. He remembered Gendry used to call her out like that too. With less curses though. And more gently. It was nice to see she wasn't alone still.

"So did you find them," he asked, "your family?" She paused a bit at this word, as if pondering something.

"I did. The ones that are left at least."

"Didn't go well?" He didn't have a family, but there was no love lost between Mari and her mother, the innkeep. Hot Pie thought if they didn't have the inn they would have parted ways long ago, never to see each other again. He got along well enough with everyone, so he guessed that families were probably harder to get along with than most people. Better not to see each other too much. 

Arry seemed to be thinking along those lines, because her eyes glazed over for a bit. "No, it went well. Mostly." She stayed silent for a bit, then went on. "Gendry was there. Maybe he'll come through here when he comes down south."

"Oh, I got lots of stuff to tell him!" It had been odd to see Arry without Gendry, but she had changed a lot, and it was the second time so he was getting used to it. Gendry probably hadn't grown though, or he would be a giant, so it might be strange to see him without his small shadow. Maybe he was Arry's shadow though, she had a habit of running into things. "But then why are you going South? Is it that thing you wanted to do earlier?"

"Yes. It is. I left because… because I need to do something first."

"First?"

"I mean I need to do this. I don't really have anything to do in the North. Or anywhere else."

"So King's Landing then." He turned to her scarred companion. "That's where we met, you know?" He grunted in response. "It's funny, it's like you're going back to the start!"

"Yeah… doesn't really feel like it," she snorted.

"What?" the knight said. "Do you need me to kill your friend here, get a nice callback?" She shot him one of the darkest look Hot Pie had ever seen. Almost as scary as Mari's when he found her with the errand boy.

"Shut the fuck up," she said. "Hot Pie's a survivor. He'd take you in a heartbeat."

Hot Pie wasn't so sure of that. The man was scary. Maybe if he had an armor on. It was nice she had faith in him though. 


	2. Gendry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hot Pie hasn't seen Gendry since he started working at the inn. Good time to reminisce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I'm not completely happy with this chapter, having worked on it way longer than I did chapter one (which, that one was written in an hour, so it's not that hard). I wanted to stay short and to the point, and keep the conversation between Hot Pie and Gendry and their differing views on being lowborn, but then. I figure, we get scraps from the show, and Jon was supposed to be there in passing, and I didn't want to give just scraps. In this version Arya hasn't actually told Jon anything about her adventures, because I would have needed to weed out what Jon knows and what he doesn't and it sounded exhausting. So it's a bit disorganized, a lot fanservic-y, and it doesn't feel complete yet. It's a lot of words though.  
> I'm adding two chapters - one for Jon, and one epilogue, but I really don't know when they'll be out.  
> Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos and overall reactions last chapter, I really didn't expect my rage-story written in the worst conditions ever to actually be liked!

There hadn’t been that many people coming to the inn in quite a long time. Ever, really. But Hot Pie had started working there as the War of the Five Kings was coming to an end in the Riverlands. He’d never seen an army pass through the Crossroads Inn before. Not that there was an army at their door now either, they had made camp a little along the way. A fair bit of the higher-ups were apparently wanting for a warm meal and a drink of ale, though, and so they rode up there. They all had armor on.

“Say, are you a knight?”

The lord he asked that question to jumped up in fright, not having seen him coming. Or maybe he didn’t expect him to talk to him. Most rich people expected him to be quiet, but that had never really been his thing. Unless it was with that huge guy from Harrenhall. He knew when to keep his mouth shut. This one was much smaller, with a very northern look to him - long dark curly hair tied in a knot, grey eyes, wearing a lot of fur and a very big sword. He was looking out the window thoughtfully, and so Hot Pie figured he wasn’t bothering him much. 

“What... “ He said after a bit, sizing him up. 

“You’re wearing armor. Are you a knight? See I thought only knights could wear armor, but I’ve been told otherwise. Still, there are a lot of people who don’t look like knights, but they wear armor. Like that scary looking guy last week…”

“I told you, anybody can wear armor!”

The tall fellow who had just talked slipped in next to Hot Pie, grasping his shoulder tightly, but in a friendly gesture. It took a second for Hot Pie to recognize him. 

“Gendry! You’ve grown even taller!”

Gendry let out a happy laugh and squeezed his friend in a one-armed hug. He deftly took the pitcher on the plate he was carrying and slipped in in front of the northern lord, gesturing to Hot Pie to sit next to him. An older man with a white beard sat next to the lord.

“How are you doing, Hot Pie? Still the best cook this side of the Riverlands?”

“I’m fine, you know me. You’re here with the army?”

“The Northern army, yes,” he nodded to the northern lord in front of him. “Following Jon to war. It seems it’s becoming a habit.” Jon laughed indulgently.

“And I thank you for it, Gendry.” They seemed to be good friends. It didn’t surprise Hot Pie. Gendry was good at making friends with Northern nobles. 

“I’m Davos,” the old man said. “I’ve known the lad for a while, but he hasn’t mentioned you. You two know each other, then?”

“Oh, yes,” Hot Pie smiled, happy to reminisce. “We travelled together for a while, until Thoros of Myr left me here as payment. The Brotherhood came back a few times, but I haven’t seen Gendry since then, so it’s nice to see he’s well.” Gendry smiled sadly. Jon seemed to understand the reason. 

“He’s doing better than well, he’s thriving,” Davos said.

“What?” Hot Pie looked at Gendry inquisitively. His responding smile was self-depreciative, and almost bashful. It was an odd look on him. 

“I’m a Lord now.” He was squirming

“A Lord?” 

“I’m Robert Baratheon’s bastard son,” he said, standing straight with his chin high up, trying to maintain countenance. “There’s no more Baratheon, so the queen - ah, that’s Queen Daenerys - decided to legitimize me, made me Lord of Storm’s End.”

“Uh. Arry told me I might see you, but she didn’t tell me that.”

Gendry froze completely at that, his stare zeroing on Hot Pie. Jon, who was looking at the both of them with a fond smile, quickly became alarmed, and his right hand went to his sword. 

“What did you say? Arry? You saw Arya?”

“Arya? What?” 

Blue eyes and grey eyes were staring at Hot Pie confusedly. It seemed oddly familiar. He wasn’t sure why they were so alarmed.

“Well, yeah. I saw her a few months back, she was going to King’s Landing, which was strange cause I thought she would go to Winterfell, now that her brother’s king there.” 

“Wait, Arya as in Arya my sister?” Jon’s focus moved from Hot Pie to Gendry, and as tall he was, he suddenly took on a frightened look and deflated in his seat. “Why are we talking about my sister?”

“Oh! You’re that Jon! Heard a lot about you. Arry told us a lot about how good you were with a sword! You do look like her!”

“How do you know my sister?” Jon - the King, apparently - asked him, seeing that Gendry was choosing to stay silent. Davos looked worried, so Hot Pie tried to diffuse the tension.

“I told you, we travelled together! Left King’s Landing together with the Night’s Watch and all. Although, we didn’t really become friends before Harrenhall. I mean, Gendry and Arry were already always together, but then in Harrenhall it was only us three.”

“The Night’s Watch? Harrenhall?” Davos asked. Jon looked overwhelmed. Gendry was looking at his cup intently. “What?” Jon croaked, and it seemed to wake him up. 

“I’m sorry, Jon, I didn’t tell you.”

“You know my sister? Travelled with her? Both of you?”

Hot Pie and Gendry looked at each other, remembering the cold nights on the road, the terror at the sight of the Mountain riding in, the realization that they should be suspicious of everyone, except each other, from now on. Davos saw the truth in their eyes and sighed.

“Alright, we might need more ale. Tell me everything.”

Hot Pie stood up and quickly went to get another pitcher, before Mari noticed anything. He was afraid she wouldn’t let him get back. She wouldn’t want to contradict the King in the North if he wanted to talk to him, though, so he was safe with him for now. And the Lord of Stone’s Head, apparently. When he got back, Gendry had already started. 

“We hadn’t been travelling long before I understood she was a girl -”

“How’d you notice that, by the way. I didn’t get it till Lord Tywin said it.” Jon - the King - sputtered. It reminded Hot Pie of some of the stories Arry had told about him. 

“Tywin?! As in Tywin Lannister?”

“Yeah, he was in Harrenhall. Saved Gendry’s life and all!”

“We’re not there yet in the story, Hot Pie.”

“Okay, okay, go back to the Goldcloaks then.”

“The Goldcloaks?” Jon asked. He looked to be in pain. 

“Yes,” Gendry resumed patiently. “When the Goldcloaks came, Arya thought they were looking for her, so she hid. Afterwards I asked her if it was because she was a girl and, I don't know why she trusted me, but she told me who she really was.”

“But they didn’t find her.”

“They weren’t looking for her. Joffrey was trying to find and kill all of King Robert’s bastards, so it was me they wanted.”

“Yoren wouldn’t let them anyway. He wasn’t a knight, but he was a really good fighter,” Hot Pie added. “Too bad he got killed.”

“How did that happen? He was a Brother of the Night’s Watch, he would have been used to much worse than bandits.” That’s right, Arry said her brother was at the Wall. 

“Goldcloaks. They came back, looking for me. Killed everyone, pretty much. Arya saved my life. She made them think they had killed me in the fight too. And then we got taken prisoner to Harrenhall.”

“Harrenhall…” Jon seemed to be in a daze. 

“I’ve never heard anything good about this place…” Davos quipped, and Gendry snorted at that.

“You won’t hear anything good from us either.”

“I didn’t hate it. They had food in stock and all.”

“Hot Pie, they tortured people. They were going to torture me, if Lord Tywin hadn’t arrived.” Hot Pie was talking about afterwards, when the Lord had put them all to work. Before… He remembered pissing his pants at the look in the Mountain’s face. Right. It had its ups and downs. 

“Lord Tywin was there? And he recognized Arya?”

“He realized she wasn’t a boy when she refused to kneel before him. He took her on as his cup bearer. He never figured out who she was, don’t worry,” Gendry smiled reassuringly at his friend.

“She was lucky, too. I was stuck in the kitchen, and Gendry in the smithy, but she could pretty much come and go as she pleased when he wasn’t taking his meal.”

“How did you get out of there?” 

Seeing that Gendry was at a loss for words, Hot Pie chimed in helpfully. “We walked out.” Jon furrowed his brows.

“You… Walked out of Harrenhall?” he glanced at Gendry, who shrugged.

“Pretty much, yeah. Arya had a friend who was hired as a guard, I think. He helped us out. We snuck out in the middle of the night.”

“I didn’t think Arya could get better at making friends. I guess without her Lady Mother scolding her it actually became easier.” He and Gendry looked sad at this thought. Hot Pie perked up.

“Yeah, like the knight she was with! Didn’t look very friendly and all.” There was a pause at his words.

“Who? When?” Gendry prodded. Jon stopped him, rising his hand. 

“Finish telling the story first. Please." Gendry obviously wanted to know more, but he backed down respectfully.

“Right, of course.” He fiddled with his cup. “We got out of Harrenhall, then we got lost in the Riverlands. We were going North, trying to reach Riverrun.”

“Because that’s where your grandfather lives, right? I remember that much.”

“Not my grandfather,” Jon corrected, but Hot Pie was sure Arry had said her grandfather lived there. 

“On the way,” Gendry said, “we ran into the Brotherhood without Banners. Thoros picked us up and brought us here.” 

“That’s when we saw Arry’s knight friend!” Hot Pie remembered. Gendry hesitated at his use of the word 'friend', obviously wanting to know more.

“Yes, the Hound." Jon made a face.

“I’m guessing he recognized her face.”

“Aye, right away,” Hot Pie said. "Then Thoros sold me to the innkeep, and Arry and Gendry left with them."

“They were going to bring her back to your brother and -” Gendry stopped himself with a cough. “Your brother, I mean. I wanted to stay with them but, you know the story.”

“I don’t,” Hot Pie pointed out.

“He was sold to a Red Priestess who wanted his blood,” Davos said nonchalantly, but with a nervous intensity. “King's blood, and all. That’s where I met him. Helped snuck him out, put him on a boat back to King’s Landing.” Hot Pie figured that, when you’d been fighting the dead, those things didn’t phase you much anymore. He took it in stride, too. 

“Apparently, , the Hound captured Arya to sell her back to her family. They came back here, then, Hot Pie?” Gendry asked. 

“What? No. Didn’t see her then.”

“But you just said -”

“I saw a big lady who was looking for her though. I wasn’t sure I could trust her, but she looked like a knight, with blue armor on, and even a squire. Told her what happened.” 

“Brienne. She found her, I know that much. When did you see Arya exactly, Hot Pie?” Jon wondered. 

“I saw her a few months back, on her own, I told you that. And then last week she came back, with the Hound. Told me about how you fought the dead and everything! She told me she’d seen you again.”

Gendry looked speechless. And guilty. Jon looked suspicious. 

“I’ve known you for a while, now, Gendry, we even travelled north of the Wall together. And still, I had no idea you knew my sister.” 

“I’m sorry, Jon. I didn’t think-”

“You went north of the Wall? You? He was complaining about the cold the whole time we were travelling!” he said laughingly to Jon, who nodded.

“Aye, he did that north of the Wall, too.”

“I’m used to the heat! I spent my life in the forge!”

“And with my sister, apparently,” Jon pointed out. Davos hid his laugh in a cough. Gendry made a face. 

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I just, I’ve never seen you two talk, even in Winterfell.” 

“There were a lot of people. We talked a few times,” Hot Pie noticed how uncomfortable he looked. That was strange. He usually only got like that around women. “She wanted me to make her a weapon, for the battle.” 

“Aye, I saw that,” Davos perked up. “That staff she used, you made it?” Gendry nodded. “She made good use of it, took down a good dozen wights with it.”

“Sounds like Arya,” Gendry smiled excitingly, before turning to Hot Pie. “Did she tell you she’s the one who killed the Night King?”

“Didn’t say much, actually. She killed the King? I didn’t even know dead people had kings, thought we were done with that when we were dead!”

“And isn’t that why we fought? To be free of kings when we die?” Davos joked. Hot Pie was sure he was right. He wasn’t sure dead people could kneel anyway.

“She looked like she’d fought a battle. Scars and black eye and all. She looks pretty now, so that’s more noticeable.” Jon frowned, and Hot Pie wasn’t sure if it was in confusion or in disapprobation. He was just telling the truth. Jon should have been looking at Gendry instead anyway, because he was blushing a lot. 

“Why did Arya come here? And with the Hound? She was supposed to stay at Winterfell.” Gendry gulped, and made a face at Hot Pie. He wasn’t sure what it meant. 

“She’s going to King’s Landing, isn’t she?” He said. Gendry smacked his hand on his forehead. 

“King’s Landing? Why would she go there alone?” Davos wondered. “We’re on our way there, she could have come with us. She’s a good fighter, we could have used her.”

“Not alone,” Jon said. “With the Hound. Do you know anything, Gendry?”

Gendry was looking down at the table. It was a familiar pose, one that every lowborn knew, and one that Hot Pie only took on sometimes, when cruel lords came to the inn, but it never really came naturally to him. It was about survival, not the way things are most of the time. Gendry was always better at it than he was, knowing his place. But he was a lord now, wasn’t he? It wasn’t his place anymore. If he needed help with being a lord, and asserting himself, and no one else was gonna help him, then Hot Pie could! He didn’t know how to be a lord himself, but he’d seen plenty of them in his life. The most important thing was to speak as if you knew everything, and you weren’t guilty about any of it. And if there was something Gendry knew about, it was Arry, they were always exchanging looks when he was with them. 

He was about to tell them about Arry, and the list, to get Gendry going, but at that moment Mari caught him by the collar and told him to go back to the kitchen. 

“Oh, I’ve been here a while, haven’t I? Sorry, I should get back. I’ll talk to you later, Gendry, Arry’s brother!”

 

____

Gendry found him a few hours later, after the sun had set. The kitchen was closed, and he was supposed to clean up the main room and the kitchen - punishment because he’d been slacking, apparently. Truth was, he was the one doing it most days, anyway. Gendry put some plates and cup on one of the board and brought them to the kitchen, where Hot Pie was washing the pans.

“Oh, hey Gendry! You’re not asleep yet?”

“No, couldn’t sleep.”

“The beds are good though, aren’t they? Or you’d rather be back at the camp with the others?” Some of the lords had decided to take up room upstairs for the night rather than going back to their army. 

“No, we’re good here. The soldiers can be as rough as they want without the lords overseeing everything that way. There aren’t that many of us so it gets cramped.”

“Of you lords?”

“What? No. Us fighters. The army, I mean. I mean we lost half of our forces to the dead, so.” Gendry was stuttering. 

“So?”

“So the lines between what’s proper and what’s not are a bit blurry these days, is all.”

“Oh. I think they’re fine.”

“That’s because you didn’t fight. Everyone’s equal against death.”

“Yeah, but you’re a lord now, so you’re their equal anyway.”

“I’m not really a lord!” he seemed to finally burst out what he’d been wanting to say. “The queen needs to put someone in Storm’s End, that’s all. I don’t know anything about being a lord.”

“You have to be born with it, isn’t that right? There’s not much to know about it.”

“But I wasn’t born with it. I’m a bastard. I’m a smith.”

“And Arry was a boy. And a cupbearer,” Hot Pie countered. He wasn’t sure where he was going with that, but spending time with Arry taught him that lords and ladies weren’t much different from everyone else. Some were cruel, sure, but plenty of people that weren’t lords were cruel, too. Gendry wasn’t cruel.

“Arya grew up in a castle.”

“And now you own one. How is it, by the way? Can I come see you sometimes? Oh, I could come work there maybe? How much do you pay?” 

Gendry rubbed his forehead, as if he had a headache. “I don’t have a castle yet. We need to win the war first. And I’ve never been there. I haven’t been to many places.”

“You’ve been to more places than me! You went north of the Wall!”

“Aye, you’re right.” He stayed silent for a while. “Arya went to Bravos.”

“Yeah? Never heard of it.”

“It’s in Essos.”

It didn’t surprise Hot Pie that Arry would find herself in interesting places like that. She was like those travelers who came to the inn without knowing where they wanted to go next. Not traveling, wandering. He’d been cooped up here for years, and he’d been happy about it, it wasn’t a bad place to be. He’d survived a lot. So did Gendry. Arry was always who they looked up to though. Gendry would stand his ground, waver anything, and stop her from doing anything too foolish. But Arry could see the dangers ahead, and she prepared for it, confronted them head on, or found a way around them. And when she lost her head, Gendry was there to reel her back. 

He wasn’t worried about Arry, she’d survived on her own, like him. But still, he would feel better with Gendry protecting her from her worst impulses.

“What is she going to do in King’s Landing anyway?” The kitchen was silent if not for the clink of the cutlery and the sloshing of the water. Hot Pie thought Gendry had stopped breathing for a bit. 

“She’s going to kill the queen. Cersei.” That had been one of the first names she used to mutter at night.

“Have you told him that? Her brother?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t too happy about that. She was supposed to stay in Winterfell, with her sister and her little brother.” Hot Pie hummed.

“Doesn’t sound like her.”

“No, it doesn’t.” He stayed quiet for a while. “I’m so stupid.”

“Finally believe that? I told you that, I was right about the armor thing. And the lord thing.”

“No, not about that, about Arya. Of course she was gonna leave. I talked to her the night before, and I didn’t see it!”

“Really? I mean, she’d never left you before, didn’t she? Why would she do that now?” Gendry’s neck snapped back to look at his friend. 

“What?” 

“I mean she has the scary knight with her now, so maybe that’s it. You’re not as scary as he is.”

“What do you mean, she never left me?”

“You said that, didn’t you? You got sold to a witch, and she got captured.”

“She didn’t mean to leave her family either.”

“Yeah, I asked her about that. she wanted to go to King’s Landing months ago, but instead she went North to see her family. But now, she said she had something to do first.”

Gendry didn’t say anything. He went to pick up some cups and pans and put it into the water for Hot Pie to clean. 

“I wanted her to stay with me,” he said finally. Hot Pie that sounded pretty logical. They’d never meant to be parted. 

“You’re angry she didn’t tell you?”

“Yes. No! I don’t know. I don’t know if she was ever honest.”

“Arry?” Now he sounded ridiculous. “She made me believe she was a boy for months, but apart from that she’s always been honest. Even when I saw her last week.”

“I asked her to marry me.” He said that quickly, under his breath, as if expecting for someone to strike him at the simple mention of it. Hot Pie looked at him and his eyes were shut tight, refusing to look at him.

“Yeah? That’s good! She’s pretty, right? And you guys always got along. Much more than Mari and the errand boy, he doesn’t like her much most of the time. And she always says he’s the worst kisser she’s ever met.” Then a thought struck. “I’ve never been to a noble’s wedding! I can make a cake if you want. Is it gonna be in Stonehenge?”

“No, no. Hot Pie, there’s no wedding. She said no.” 

“Oh. Misjudged that one then?” Granted he didn’t know much about romance, and Arry was a lot like him. Maybe she wasn’t that interested in it either.

“I don’t know, maybe? We had a… A night.”

“Sounds promising,” he said, encouraging.

“And then I became a lord and I thought I could give her what she deserved." He moved behind the table, intent on taking a cup apparently, but his hands were too fidgety. "A, a, a castle, and a title! Something stable. She’d be the lady of Storm’s End." He deflated, hunched over the table. "That sounds weird, doesn’t it? But so does Gendry Lord of Storm’s End." He raised his head to look at Hot Pie, a dejected look on his face. "I thought we could be weird together.”

Hot Pie didn’t say anything. It didn’t sound very weird to him, but it’s not like he was going to call either of them lord or lady. He‘d always known them as Arry and Gendry, and that’s what he would always call them, probably.  

“It’s just a name, though, isn’t it?” he said. “Like how you’re a knight when you put armor on. You’re a lord when you’ve got the right name.”

“No, you need to be a lord, too.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means people rely on you! And, and, and you need to make allies with other lords, to keep the peace. And make sure people are fed, and protected. And do as the queen commands, probably.”

“That sounds like what I’m doing.” Gendry groaned. “I’m serious! Look, I make sure people are fed”, he gestured at the pan he was washing up. “And I make friends with loads of people, even lords! I made friends with you and Arry, didn’t I? And that big lady too. And Arry’s scary friend. And even Arry’s brother and your old friend, back there! And I do as the queen commands, too.” After a thought, he added, “And you made sure people were protected when you made armors, didn’t you?”

“It’s not the same thing!”

“You said you’re not a lord yet, how would you know?”

“I don’t know. But Arya doesn’t want that.”

“Arry made sure we were fed and protected - well, protected, mostly, I’m the one who feeds people. And she probably has more friends than the both of us combined, even lords and ladies. But aye, she probably doesn’t want to do as the queen commands.”

“Which queen?”

“I forgot there’s more than one now. Probably neither of them. But mostly Cersei.” 

"Yeah. Maybe that's why she needs to take care of that. But she won't want to be with me after that." His voice went down at the end and he sat down on the chair behind him heavily. 

“You just have to ask her again once it’s done.”

“What?” He bumped his fist on the table in frustration, but not as harshly as he would have expected. “Hot Pie, she already said no. I’m not going to bother her with that anymore. It’s in the past, and I’m moving past it.”

“Or she’ll ask you. You were never the bravest anyway. Remember how you didn’t even want to get out of Harrenhall?” Ignoring his friend’s grumbling about his own cowardice, Hot Pie, continued. “You’ll come see me again when it’s over, right?”

Gendry smiled, an easy smile that reminded Hot Pie of the way he would tower over him and Arry, reassuring them that nothing would happen to them with his mere presence. It always worked better on Arry, but Hot Pie appreciated the gesture. Gendry liked feeling useful, he liked knowing people felt safe around him. He’d make a good lord, if that’s what it was about. 

“Or I’ll come see you. In your castle. You can tell me about being a lord then. I’ll bake you something, and you can make me an armor.”

“Why would you need an armor?”

“You can make me something else if you want. I don’t mind. Something to protect me, since it’s your job now.” 

“Yeah, alright, I’ll make you something.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope I got Hot Pie's voice right. It's hard because Gendry is such an idiot for some things, but Hot Pie isn't necessarily taking things from the right angle either, although he's providing a very important viewpoint, all the while reminding Gendry where his true worth lies - not in his name but in his kindness and generosity to the people he love.  
> It's very frustrating writing these two. I can't believe Jon is going to be the smart one.

**Author's Note:**

> I love kudos and comments if you feel like it!


End file.
